Former American University President Richard E. Berendzen pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor charges of making obscene telephone calls from his office. His lawyer told a Fairfax, Va., court the educator deeply regretted his actions. His psychiatrist released a statement that said the 51-year-old Berendzen had been sexually abused as a youngster. Fairfax County Judge J. Conrad Waters Jr. sentenced Berendzen to 30 days in jail on each charge.

October 24, 1993 | Robert Dawidoff, Robert Dawidoff teaches history at the Claremont Graduate School. His is the author with Michael Nava of "Created Equal: Why Gay Rights Matter to Americans" (St. Martin's Press, 1994)

Unhappy families may be unhappy in their own ways, as Tolstoy said it, but they are remarkably alike in the degree of harm they do to children. Children who survive the tempests and abuse of dysfunctional and especially incestuous families share many of the same traits. They experience shame, humiliation, anger, dissociation from their feelings, lack of self esteem, depression, addiction and memory loss.

American University President Richard Berendzen was charged Friday with two misdemeanor counts of making indecent telephone calls, Fairfax County police said. Berendzen was served with a summons by a county police investigator. He was released after agreeing to appear for trial before a judge on June 28, Fairfax County prosecutor Robert Horan said. Police spokesman Michael Proffitt said an investigation found that obscene calls were made to two women on March 28 and 29.

The trustees of American University voted unanimously Thursday to rescind a controversial offer to pay nearly $1 million to buy out the contract of Richard Berendzen, the school's former president who pleaded guilty to making obscene telephone calls. Berendzen had asked the trustees to withdraw the offer after he was offered a chance to return as a full professor on the physics faculty in the spring of 1992.

The trustees of American University voted unanimously Thursday to rescind a controversial offer to pay nearly $1 million to buy out the contract of Richard Berendzen, the school's former president who pleaded guilty to making obscene telephone calls. Berendzen had asked the trustees to withdraw the offer after he was offered a chance to return as a full professor on the physics faculty in the spring of 1992.

October 24, 1993 | Robert Dawidoff, Robert Dawidoff teaches history at the Claremont Graduate School. His is the author with Michael Nava of "Created Equal: Why Gay Rights Matter to Americans" (St. Martin's Press, 1994)

Unhappy families may be unhappy in their own ways, as Tolstoy said it, but they are remarkably alike in the degree of harm they do to children. Children who survive the tempests and abuse of dysfunctional and especially incestuous families share many of the same traits. They experience shame, humiliation, anger, dissociation from their feelings, lack of self esteem, depression, addiction and memory loss.

Former American University President Richard E. Berendzen has agreed to appear on ABC News's "Nightline." Anchor Ted Koppel on Wednesday said, "I hope it will be next week sometime. It will depend on the legal disposition of his case. Once the legal scene is clear, he's agreed to come on the program." Berendzen resigned abruptly last month after officials traced obscene phone calls to his office.

Robert Smith's column on Arcana's proprietor, Lee Kaplan (Book Review, Oct. 31), covered more territory than four paragraphs of language would seem to make possible. I sometimes think there are owners of secondhand bookstores who belong as much to the history of literature as the literature they sell. Because the great books are out of print they are crucially positioned to do for the public what a Barnes & Noble or Crown is not interested in doing. A Lee Kaplan rescues from oblivion "a copy of Danny Lyon's seminal paperback of bikers' photos," and provides a visitor to his bookstore with a magic lantern into another world.

Saudi financier Adnan Khashoggi has been dropped from the American University Board of Trustees--not because of his indictment on charges of racketeering, fraud and obstruction of justice--but because he is a no-show. Khashoggi, once reputed to have been among the world's richest men, was named to the Washington school's board in 1983 but, according to AU President Richard Berendzen, has attended only one board meeting, staying about 30 minutes. "We have no address for him," Berendzen told the Eagle, the AU student newspaper.

The sudden resignation and disappearance of American University President Richard Berendzen came after police traced a series of obscene phone calls to his private office phone, reports said today. Berendzen, who quit April 10 after 10 years on the job, was asked to step down because of allegations surrounding "personal actions," said Edward Carr, chairman of the university's board of trustees. Robert Horan Jr., a prosecutor in Fairfax County, Va.

Former American University President Richard E. Berendzen pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor charges of making obscene telephone calls from his office. His lawyer told a Fairfax, Va., court the educator deeply regretted his actions. His psychiatrist released a statement that said the 51-year-old Berendzen had been sexually abused as a youngster. Fairfax County Judge J. Conrad Waters Jr. sentenced Berendzen to 30 days in jail on each charge.

American University President Richard Berendzen was charged Friday with two misdemeanor counts of making indecent telephone calls, Fairfax County police said. Berendzen was served with a summons by a county police investigator. He was released after agreeing to appear for trial before a judge on June 28, Fairfax County prosecutor Robert Horan said. Police spokesman Michael Proffitt said an investigation found that obscene calls were made to two women on March 28 and 29.

The Virginia woman who received obscene phone calls from former American University President Richard Berendzen said Friday she is seeking $11 million in damages for emotional stress on her and her family. Susan Allen of Fairfax, Va., demanded $4 million from Berendzen and $7 million from the university in a suit filed in District of Columbia Superior Court.

Richard E. Berendzen, who has resigned as American University president, pleaded guilty today to two misdemeanor charges of making obscene telephone calls from his university office. Fairfax County General District Court Judge J. Conrad Waters Jr. sentenced Berendzen to 30 days in jail on each charge, but suspended all the jail time, provided the Harvard-trained educator stays out of trouble for one year. "I deeply regret all of this," Berendzen told the judge in his only comment.